God and Nature Summer 2022
answers on evolution |
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By Lorence Collins
The following are the answers I gave to a correspondent who asked me three questions about evolution.
Question 1. How important is the study of the theory of evolution to us?
The scientific study of evolution is important to humans because it is the foundation of all advances in biology. We need it to improve agriculture yields, develop vaccines and other treatments to prevent or cure diseases, to provide insights as to how our body works, to develop new animals that provide more milk or proteins, to understand how energy flows through the environments and how to distribute it, to learn how changes in the environment are experienced by organisms and understand the resulting effects of these changes in terms of survival and sustainability of the organisms sharing an ecosystem, etc.
The following are the answers I gave to a correspondent who asked me three questions about evolution.
Question 1. How important is the study of the theory of evolution to us?
The scientific study of evolution is important to humans because it is the foundation of all advances in biology. We need it to improve agriculture yields, develop vaccines and other treatments to prevent or cure diseases, to provide insights as to how our body works, to develop new animals that provide more milk or proteins, to understand how energy flows through the environments and how to distribute it, to learn how changes in the environment are experienced by organisms and understand the resulting effects of these changes in terms of survival and sustainability of the organisms sharing an ecosystem, etc.
As many have pointed out, God has given us two books to read: the Bible/theology and science/nature. |
Question 2. What are the factors that cause some students and teachers to reject the theory of evolution?
The rejection of the theory of evolution mostly comes from those who believe that a literal interpretation of the Bible in the book of Genesis or in the Koran is necessary for their faith. I am a Christian because Jesus never said that there were certain ideas that I must believe before I can be a Christian. He just said, “Follow me and do what I do and give love to all people, particularly those who are marginalized or your enemy.”
Rejection of evolution as taught by young-earth creationists is based on the idea that the Bible or the Koran are the Word of God and must be without error in every detail. Some Christians will quote 2 Timothy 3:16: "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness." But note that this is about "training in righteousness" and not "training in science." As many have pointed out, God has given us two books to read: the Bible/theology and science/nature. The first answers the questions of who and why, while the second answers the questions of when, where, and how—and because both are from God, both are true.
Question 3. Do we need to teach creationism in the classroom along with evolution so that students can choose which one is right?
In a math classroom we do not teach that 2 + 5 = 11. Instead, we teach the truth, that 2 + 5 = 7. We expect the math teacher to teach the truth. Likewise, we should not teach in a science classroom the three-tier universe worldview held by early Hebrews and other Ancient Near East peoples, nor their pre-scientific understanding of how life was generated. In ancient times people observed that when a barley seed was planted in soil, it always produced a new barley plant regardless of how many generations or times barley seeds were planted. They also observed that when goats procreated, they always produced new goats. So, projecting these observations back in time, it was logical for early Hebrews in Genesis 1 to say that God created plants instantly from the earth (soil) on day 3, animals instantly also from the earth (soil) on day 5, and humans instantly on day 6 from the earth (molded clay) as ha-Adam. A male interpreter of the Bible makes ha-Adam a male, but ha-Adam is an earth creature. Both male and female arrived simultaneously in the Bible, not the male first before the female. Both have equal importance and are meant to be helpmates for each other.
In ancient times, no one knew the geologic fossil record that shows that through billions of years, there is progressive record of life beginning with single cells in the early Precambrian then to multiple-celled organisms through marine creatures, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, and that there are transitional fossils between each new type (kind) of animal as well as between each new type of plant life in the fossil record. Young-earth creationists claim there are no transitional fossils, but that is simply not true.
It is clear that life did not begin instantly with “kinds” (a barley seed or a goat) that was in an evolutionary orchard that produced different kinds of barley or goats from separate sources, but all life began in a single source that became a branching tree of organisms that changed by evolutionary processes to make what is observed today. God (the Creator) did not instantaneously produce life over and over again to make 5 billion species, but produced a DNA arrangement that had the capability to mutate so that when natural catastrophes occurred that caused extinctions, these mutations allowed new life to form that could cope with the new conditions. That kind of Creator is more awesome in my mind than a Creator that does creation by magic.
So we should not teach magic, miracles, or lies in a public classroom. If some people want to teach their particular religious view of an ancient understanding of the origin of life in religious schools, they should have the freedom to do so, but they will find that intelligent people will soon reject what they teach as untrue and will leave their religion and could become atheists. We should not teach both views with equal time because it is a waste of students’ and teachers’ time to look at ancient views of how living creatures came to exist, or that 2 + 5 = 11.
Lorence G. Collins is a retired professor of geology from California State University Northridge, who taught mineralogy, petrology, and photogeology interpretation for thirty-three years. He has published a book titled “A Christian Geologist Explains Why the Earth Cannot Be 6,000 Year Old – Let’s Heal the Divide in the Church" (Dorrance Publications 2021) and has a website “Opposition to Creationism” with 85 articles. http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/creation.html
The rejection of the theory of evolution mostly comes from those who believe that a literal interpretation of the Bible in the book of Genesis or in the Koran is necessary for their faith. I am a Christian because Jesus never said that there were certain ideas that I must believe before I can be a Christian. He just said, “Follow me and do what I do and give love to all people, particularly those who are marginalized or your enemy.”
Rejection of evolution as taught by young-earth creationists is based on the idea that the Bible or the Koran are the Word of God and must be without error in every detail. Some Christians will quote 2 Timothy 3:16: "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness." But note that this is about "training in righteousness" and not "training in science." As many have pointed out, God has given us two books to read: the Bible/theology and science/nature. The first answers the questions of who and why, while the second answers the questions of when, where, and how—and because both are from God, both are true.
Question 3. Do we need to teach creationism in the classroom along with evolution so that students can choose which one is right?
In a math classroom we do not teach that 2 + 5 = 11. Instead, we teach the truth, that 2 + 5 = 7. We expect the math teacher to teach the truth. Likewise, we should not teach in a science classroom the three-tier universe worldview held by early Hebrews and other Ancient Near East peoples, nor their pre-scientific understanding of how life was generated. In ancient times people observed that when a barley seed was planted in soil, it always produced a new barley plant regardless of how many generations or times barley seeds were planted. They also observed that when goats procreated, they always produced new goats. So, projecting these observations back in time, it was logical for early Hebrews in Genesis 1 to say that God created plants instantly from the earth (soil) on day 3, animals instantly also from the earth (soil) on day 5, and humans instantly on day 6 from the earth (molded clay) as ha-Adam. A male interpreter of the Bible makes ha-Adam a male, but ha-Adam is an earth creature. Both male and female arrived simultaneously in the Bible, not the male first before the female. Both have equal importance and are meant to be helpmates for each other.
In ancient times, no one knew the geologic fossil record that shows that through billions of years, there is progressive record of life beginning with single cells in the early Precambrian then to multiple-celled organisms through marine creatures, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, and that there are transitional fossils between each new type (kind) of animal as well as between each new type of plant life in the fossil record. Young-earth creationists claim there are no transitional fossils, but that is simply not true.
It is clear that life did not begin instantly with “kinds” (a barley seed or a goat) that was in an evolutionary orchard that produced different kinds of barley or goats from separate sources, but all life began in a single source that became a branching tree of organisms that changed by evolutionary processes to make what is observed today. God (the Creator) did not instantaneously produce life over and over again to make 5 billion species, but produced a DNA arrangement that had the capability to mutate so that when natural catastrophes occurred that caused extinctions, these mutations allowed new life to form that could cope with the new conditions. That kind of Creator is more awesome in my mind than a Creator that does creation by magic.
So we should not teach magic, miracles, or lies in a public classroom. If some people want to teach their particular religious view of an ancient understanding of the origin of life in religious schools, they should have the freedom to do so, but they will find that intelligent people will soon reject what they teach as untrue and will leave their religion and could become atheists. We should not teach both views with equal time because it is a waste of students’ and teachers’ time to look at ancient views of how living creatures came to exist, or that 2 + 5 = 11.
Lorence G. Collins is a retired professor of geology from California State University Northridge, who taught mineralogy, petrology, and photogeology interpretation for thirty-three years. He has published a book titled “A Christian Geologist Explains Why the Earth Cannot Be 6,000 Year Old – Let’s Heal the Divide in the Church" (Dorrance Publications 2021) and has a website “Opposition to Creationism” with 85 articles. http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/creation.html